Pale Sun Rose – Ki No Bi Gin

Through the suggestion of a fellow spirits blogger, I thought I give the Ki No Bi Gin line-up a chance. First up, I used the regular Ki No Bi Kyoto Dry Gin for a Martini-style highball using sake, vermouth and an olive lemonade. Besides that, the Ki No Bi also had to show how it would behave in a classic Gin & Tonic.

My good friends from Trinklaune.de are already quite the fans of the Ki No Bi Gins. So, when Torben recommended them to me, I just knew that I also had to try them. The Kyoto Distillery produces the gins from rice spirit as well as eleven botanicals: bamboo leaves, green tea, ginger, Hinoki, juniper berries, Kinome, lemon, orris root, Sansho pepper, Shiso leaves and Yuzu. However, they are distilled in six different batches. The base form juniper berries, orris root and Hinoki also called the Japanese cypress. Lemon peel and Yuzu fruits are also distilled together as the citrus part. For the herbal flavour of the gin, Ki No Bi uses Sansho pepper corns and the leaves. On top of that, ginger, also distilled separately, gives the gin its spicy part. Gyokuro tea is distilled for the green tea portion of the blend. Finally, Shiso and Bamboo leaves add fruity and floral notes to the spirit.

Yuzu and pepper notes

It is always hard for a spirit to life up to the expectations when you get a recommendation. Yet, the Ki No Bi Gin manages to impress with its balanced notes of juniper, citrus peel and pepper. Apart from that, you definitely get some menthol and hot spice notes. However, I prefer my gin a bit rough around the edges. In my opinion, this means that it can stand up to being mixed. Case in point, when you mix yourself a Gin & Tonic with the Ki No Bi Gin it pairs well with almost any not too dry tonic water. Furthermore, I especially liked the combination with the Fever Tree Clementine Tonic Water.

A Saketini highball

When posting my variation of a Disaronno Fizz with the Le Tribute Olive Lemonade, Karin from Erbsi’s Cocktails suggested mixing a Martini highball with it. So, that was the starting point for my cocktail idea with the Ki No Bi Gin. Yet, I also had an open bottle of sake standing around and a decided to add a bit of it to the recipe, too. For the vermouth part I used the Mancino Sakura Vermouth, because of its Japanese themed flavour profile.

The “Pale Sun Rose” is a nice combination of classic Martini notes and a more refreshing lemonade taste. Of course, you will notice the olive flavour, but as mentioned before, it is very subtle. Moreover, the Sakura vermouth and the sake go very well together and nicely compliment the spicy and citrusy notes of the Ki No Bi Gin. In the end, the highball is an excellent choice for warmer days when a full-blown Martini would just be too heavy.

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The gin was provided by Pernod Ricard.